By: jackie.sauter

At No. 21, Bethesda ranked higher on the Forbes’ Best Cities for Jobs in 2008 list than D.C. (No. 25) or Baltimore (No. 35).

Perspective check: Wilmington, DE beat all three.

Five equally-weighted data points were used to configure the list: unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income and cost of living. Bethesda’s (above) high scores for median income and low unemployment rate propelled it up the list, outweighing the city’s high cost of living (ranked 92 out of 100).

Here’s Baltimore’s breakdown: 24th in median income; 29th in unemployment; 54th in income growth; 65th in cost of living; 57th in job growth.

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor